How These Minnesota Towns Got Their Unique Names

Every state has their share of towns and villages with kind of quirky names. There had to be some reason they were given these names. Here's a look at a few strange and not so strangely named towns around Minnesota and how they got their name.

Climax comes to mind right away. Climax actually refers at times to a ladder or reaching a high point in some way. This high point was a theme of the Climax tobacco company in an ad and the town decided to take this name Climax for itself.

Embarrass when translated from French becomes another word for "obstacle". That was the case on the Embarrass river, obstacles of driftwood everywhere and causing travel difficulties among other problems.

Staples is named for Mr. Staples the lumber baron from Stillwater who invested in a number of interests in the area that later came to bear his name.

Nimrod is said to be the grandson of Ham in the Bible and it's believed he may have been in charge of the building of the tower of Babel. Why residents chose this person's name for the town I cannot explains.